How the Other Half Lives

In Jacob Riis’ essay, “How the Other Half Lives,” Riis argues to change the harsh living conditions of the tenements in New York in the 1860’s by illustrating and describing his experiences while photographing the city’s tenements for the middle class.

As business in New York increased within a couple of years, so did the number of tenants living in the city. In the following quote, Riis illustrates to the audience how small the rooms were relative to the mass amount of numbers of families that were living inside: “[The rooms] without regard to light or ventilation, soon became filled from cellar to garret with a class of tenantry living from hand to mouth, loose in morals, improvident in habits, degraded, and squalid as beggary itself” (11). The space described above does not only reflect the insufficient amount of living space, but also describes the stereotypical characteristics of “the poor” in the eyes of the middle class. Riis is unusually biased when calling the tenantry “squalid,” something he is not throughout the chapter, reflecting his intention of relating to the outsiders view.

It is evident that the living conditions were poor and should be addressed to the landlords; however, whenever addressed, the landlords would turn their backs on the complaints. Riis states, “The complaint was universal among the tenants that they were completely uncared for, and that the only answer to their requests to have the place put in order by repairs… was that they must pay their rent or leave” (7). It is shown here that the owners did not care about the living conditions at all, just about making profit. Riis even later states, “It was the rent the owner was after; nothing was said in the contract about either the safety or the comfort of the tenants” (10). It was difficult for the tenants to express their concerns to the government, let alone the landlords. The government at the time had no idea what was going on.

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...in to different race groups. This book is also about the overcrowding and the unhealthy living conditions of the tenement and how there community changes to become a healthy place to live and work.
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3. Jacob Riis uses is own experience has an immigrant that was in poverty plus his research on all the different nationality that lived in the tenements which include Irish, Italian, German, French, African, Spanish, Bohemian, Russian, Scandinavian, Jewish, and Chinese. He also took many photographs of the filthy environment and of people including children in their daily life struggles. The book also included many sketches of his photos and diagram of the different tenements.
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...1
English 11
April 10th, 2014
“How The OtherHalfLives” is an article about the more poor side of the streets.
Jacob Riis, a man that understood this way of life, wanted to expose how the poor had
to live on the streets. Jacob Riis understood the way these people lived because he had
been through much of it himself. Only through his eventual rise to fame was he able to
expose this. This article had received very many praises but also very many criticisms.
Jacob Riis was born in Ribe, Denmark. Among his 15 siblings only he and two
others survived into the twentieth century. He had a happy childhood but experienced
much tragedy when he was eleven years old. His brother, Theodor, had drowned.
Jacob was extremely shaken by his mother’s grief. When Jacob was eleven or twelve
years old, he had donated all the money he had to poor family in his town. The only
condition was they had to keep the house very clean. When he informed his mother of
his actions she went to help the poor family. Jacob’s father wanted him to pursue a
literary career but Jacob had the aspirations to be a carpenter instead. When he was
sixteen he was doing work as an apprentice carpenter for a company. Jacob had
become very fond of the owner of the companies daughter, who was only 12. The
owner of the business disapproved of this, and Jacob was forced to complete his ...